Minecraft: the Story
by Zaccari
Summary: Minecraft: a game of survival, mining, and survival with a little bit of creativity mixed in. In honor of such an awesome game, I decided to write a story about it for a school assignment. It's my first short story - please give me constructive criticism


MINECRAFT - THE STORY

By Zaccari Silverman

I woke up one day, not knowing where I was. I thought I must have been in the middle of a forest, because the first thing I saw was a tree. Then there was another one. Plenty of trees. Nearby, a lake was the only land feature that broke the near-endless plains. Looking up, the sky looked gloomy. Perhaps it was going to rain? I wasn't going to take any chances and get caught in the rain, so I decided that work on my house was to begin immediately. The leaves on the trees blocked my view, so I decided it would be inappropriate to build my abode here. Past the edge of the forest was a landscape consisting of largely flat ground next to a lake. The plains nearby looked like a perfect place to start out, so I headed over there to build a lakeside manor for myself. There wasn't much of anything around, so I started digging. Before long, I had enough dirt to build a small house but I ended up reaching stone. I climbed my way out and started making my dirt walls, just high enough for me to put a roof over my head without crouching down. The only problem with making a roof, I thought, is that the dirt would collapse on me, but luckily it never did. I gazed in awe at my tiny shack before I gasped; I had forgotten all about a door! Thinking quickly, I cut down a tree and took the wood. Oddly enough, when I cut the bottom of the tree, it didn't fall over. I took that as an opportunity and harvested the rest of the wood. After that, the leaves started disappearing when I noticed something fall out of the tree. It looked like… a little tree? I picked it up- after all, I could never know what may come in handy in this strange world.

I felt very lost. What was I supposed to do? I started playing with one of the logs I had obtained and when I kicked it really hard, it split into a bunch of planks. That was the most important discovery on that island - I could build quite a bit with these planks, so I commenced work. I had quite a few logs, but I needed to make a few more planks first. When I did, I realized that working on a door without a workplace would be difficult. I quickly ended up making a crafting table out of a few wooden planks. I then used a few more wooden planks to make a door, and the rest of them to make a box. I placed the door in the doorway and again lost myself in awe of my masterpiece. I then placed the chest in a discreet corner in my home and placed my sapling inside as the sun started to set...

Nightfall: My first night on this strange island. I had barely finished building my shelter when the sun set. Suddenly, I started to hear strange noises… Behind me were eight menacing, blood red eyes. A titanic spider stood before me! I was petrified as the spider lunged out to slash at me with her huge legs. Not about to let myself go down, I ravenously struck back at the beast before it ever got the chance to attack again. The once mighty arachnid was dead. I salvaged some of the silk the spider had on it before moving on. A few more spiders came and went, and I picked up their eyes for food - I hadn't eaten since I appeared on the island! I had quite the collection of spider silk, and as I grew weary, it dawned on me that I could probably make a neat hammock with my silk. I went back to my shack, and after an hour of working, my resting place was completed and I slept through the rest of the night…

Day broke, and I woke up feeling great. I took a deep breath and headed outside. I decided that I couldn't eat spider eyes forever and needed to find or grow alternative sources of nourishment. I headed west to start finding food when I saw some of the most interesting animals I had ever seen. Wildly enough, they were also the first creatures not trying to kill me. They looked and sounded like cows, but they were red and mushrooms grew on them. I thought that since they were cow-like and had udders, perhaps they could be milked. I headed back to the lake to make a neat little wooden bucket out of a few of the wooden planks I had gathered and went back to milk the red mushroom cows. Evading a few flying hooves, I went to work. An orange, opaque milky liquid came out of the cow's udders. This enigmatic substance most certainly did not smell like milk. I filled my bucket with this warm, pleasant smelling fluid and headed back to the lake as I contemplated wether or not I should drink this mysterious cow juice. The debate was settled when my stomach commanded me to drink it after all, so I dug in found that it tasted like… Mushrooms? Did these cows lactate their young with mushroom soup? It didn't matter because it tasted great and I was reenergized for more work.

Being highly inquisitive and naïve, I suddenly felt an extremely strong urge to explore the rest of the world. I didn't know that much about this continent, so I spent the next hour looking around for anything interesting. I ended up finding a large cave nearby and instantly my curiosity was piqued. The questions came into my head almost as quickly as I slurped down that mushroom soup I had found. I tried breaking some stone to pass time, but I found but it took too long. I thought about what I could do about it. Maybe a tool could help. But what? People in quarries where I came from used industrial excavators and pickaxes made of metal. I didn't have any metal, though, and I most certainly didn't have any excavators. I figured making a wooden pickaxe was worth a shot, so after marking my spot by displacing dirt, I headed for my residence. When I used it, I couldn't believe my eyes! My flimsy looking pick actually split rocks with ease! I gazed in awe of one of my creations for the third time here on this strange landmass before realizing that the sun has set. But that didn't bother me. The footsteps coming from inside the cave did.

Whatever was coming, I knew it couldn't possibly be good so I ran to my shack, went inside, and quickly made a crude weapon by tightly fastening some of the rocks I mined to a spare stick with some spider silk, making a bludgeon of sorts. Just in time, too, because out in the distance I could barely make out a human with a green complexion. As this mystery man came closer, I saw that it also had tattered clothing and long, rotting arms with bony hands that had sharp claws on each finger. I came to the conclusion that this figure couldn't me any sort of living person - it was a zombie! Quicker than I could think things through, I charged outside holding my mace, clubbing the undead fiend for the first strike. It clawed at me, not enough to be fatal and turn me into a zombie, but enough that it hurt and drew blood. I quickly retaliated with a few sharp blows to the head, giving me a clear advantage. The zombie wasn't finished with me yet, however, and clawed at me once more, but this time missing. Luckily for me the zombie's time had run out as I whacked it one final time. The horrid former human collapsed where it stood. Victorious, but with no time to congratulate myself, I ran back inside my shelter before any more ghouls could hurt me. I cautiously fell asleep, afraid of my surroundings.

The next day I was surprised that I was alive to see anything. I looked at my hands, making sure that I had all ten fingers. I looked at my feet to make sure I had the proper ten toes. Ecstatic that nothing was missing, I went outside to quite a sight. There were still a few zombies outside, but they weren't behaving like their usual bloodthirsty selves. They had caught fire - as if the sun ignited their skin. Before long, the zombies started toppling over like dominoes, out of energy, left for dead. One of them happened to be carrying a bone, perhaps from another victim. I took it before heading out to where the mushroom cows grazed so I could have some nice, hearty breakfast. The only problem was that for the past few days I had only eaten mushroom soup and spider eyes! While the mushroom soup was delicious and nutritious (with the spider eyes just being nutritious), I didn't want to eat only those two things forever, so I started looking around for other sources of food. I considered butchering one of the fungus cows, but I had no knife and their soup was so delicious that I concluded that it wasn't worth the lives of the fantastic fungal fauna. Besides, it wasn't worth it for me to take away a life just so I could eat for one night when these bovines could nourish me for a much longer time. After looking around, I found a few seeds in some tall grass. Not knowing what kind of plant into which they were to grow, I tried planting them by the river, but the grass all over the dirt was getting in the way. I devised a contraption made of two sticks perpendicular to each other that could help me break up the grass so the mystery seeds had room to sprout. Working quickly, I put the seeds on the gowned and covered them with a small amount of loam. The seeds were now sown, so now all that there was left to do was to wait for them to grow. While the seeds were growing, I thought about where I came from. I also thought about what happened before I woke up here. I thought about how I got here. There were too many questions flooding my mind with nobody to give me any remedial answers.

In the distance, I observed a pack of wolves heading towards my house. One ran to me, enviously eyeing the bone I held. Having no other foreseeable use, I gave the dog the bone and headed off, only to have the eternally grateful wolf follow me. The other wolves didn't appear to mind their friend's settling down, so the rest of wolves parted ways with the newfound "us." It was nice to have some sort of a friend and not be lonely. It was even nicer to see that for the first time some other animal was following me not to kill me, but to be my companion and protector. Hopefully it liked mushroom soup. I went back home with my new pet. I wanted to play with my buddy, but judging by the position of the sun in the sky, it looked as if night was near. After a quick helping of soup and a belly rub, we were energized to fight off almost anything that came our way. What came next, however, was a big surprise.

That night, a spider appeared by the front door. My wolf growled at the sight of such a goon and commenced attacking for me. Not about to let the spider attack, I helped my canine pal, clobbering the terrible arachnid with all my might. Before we knew it, the spider was down for the count. Just then, however, I saw a green, non-humanoid figure in the distance. It looked like a bunch of leaves put together and made sentient, with four stubby legs and a cubic head slightly larger than its torso. Just then, the creature looked at me with piercing red eyes and started running towards me. A sound similar to the sound people used to play in 50s cartoons when a fuse is lit before an explosion emanated from inside the creature. This sound horrified me, so my wolf and I ran away as fast as we could, away from the house. A subsequent explosion a second or two later knocked us off our feet and hurt us quite a bit. Quite a bit of soil surrounding the detonation site was gone, but luckily the horrid green monster was gone too. I couldn't see any more savage leaf demons headed for us, so I decided that it would be a better idea if we just retreated to our bunker for the rest of the night. I let the wolf inside, but was a bit cramped with this new resident. It was then that I decided that tomorrow would be the day I was to expand my humble abode.

The next day, I attempted to begin work, but in the corner of my eye I spotted another horrible green creature outside! None of the other monsters came out at night, as the zombies burned in daylight and the spiders went into a darker place to escape the sun. It was too late to sneak past the suicidal leaf beast, as it had already seen me. Thinking quickly, I ran away from the house and lured the abomination into the nearby river. It turned out that, despite having puny and wimpy looking legs, the bomber is quite the swimmer. I was not quite prepared for the swimming skills of the plant devil. Once it got close enough, its signature explosion followed. Truthfully, it didn't hurt as much in the water as it did on land. At least it helped water the plants. Reminding myself of them, I snuck a peak and found that the plants had already grown into… wheat? I figured I could make some crackers to go with my soup with my harvest, so before going back to work on my house, I traveled to my garden to go and reap what I had sown, remembering to plant some of the wheat berries back into the ground.

After that scene, I finally began work on my house. I wanted to make it out of stone, but I only had a little bit, so I had to get some more. There was a nearby cave full of stone, so I made my way there, telling my canine friend to stay near the house. I couldn't go far as it was very dark, but I did find a flint in some gravel, some coal, and more than enough stone to make a nice, big home. Without wasting anymore time, I travelled back to the house to expand it, making it more than big enough for the wolf and I. It was dark in our little cabin, however. I thought about a way to light the house without breaking the roof. I didn't have electricity, so lightbulbs were out of the question. I could light a fire, but that would be dangerous. Could I control a fire? Maybe in a lantern? No. I couldn't make a lantern. I didn't have the glass. Perhaps a candle? No. I didn't have wax or a wick. Maybe a torch? I thought making a torch was worth a shot, for I did have wood. I subsequently commenced torch making. I reached in to my chest of belongings and found a few of my old sticks. I took a big lump of coal and broke it into pieces. Then, I split all of the sticks into quarters, making multiple shorter ones. I used some spare spider silk to tie the coal bits to the sticks and started a fire on one of the unlit torches using my flint. From then on it would be simple, I thought to myself. I would just touch the tops of the unlit torches with the top of the lit one, and, after placing the torches near the wall, my house wasn't so gloomy anymore. My pet seemed a bit woozy from this ordeal that it never even took part of, so I gave him some soup and allowed it him rest. Then, I lit the last of the torches so I could explore the deep, dark, dank cave that had previously interested me. At least, I wanted to, but as soon as I looked outside, I knew that wouldn't be possible.

Night number four was upon us. Strange shrieks came from the hostile outside environment, waking the almost dog and startling me. I couldn't believe what I had done with the torches consumed so much time. We ate a nice, big dinner of soup and a couple of spider eyes to energize us before going outside. Nearby, a tall, shadowy creature with glowing purple eyes looked at me, its eyes staring through my soul. I didn't want to partake in this unneeded staring contest, but when I looked away, the creature screamed the most horrible, ear-piercing scream that could ever possibly be created from any organs it possessed to make such a foul noise, and to top it al off, it charged at me! I ran back inside as quickly as my legs could and slammed the door before that terrible beast injured me or the dog in any way, other than the damage that had already been done to our morale and sanity. Feeling more uneasy then ever, I tried to fall asleep, and after what must have been an hour of ringing ears and haunting memories of purple eyes, I finally did. I slept very deeply that night and woke up late.

When I finally got off my hammock and gathered the courage to go outside, I found a large, deep teal pearl on the ground in front of the door where the monster that had scared me out of my wits the last night once stood. I picked it up and it was as if the power of the beast was inside, sending chills up my spine. My wolf was already out hunting, and it appeared as if it had caught a few ducks for it to munch on. I hoped, perhaps, that it would share, and when I approached to take a duck, the canine didn't respond at all. I assumed that meant it was okay to take it and put the bird inside. I needed to cook it. I didn't know how to make an oven, but a rotisserie over a fire seemed simple enough. I was fresh out of sticks, though, so I cut down a tree with my sword and fashioned a few new sticks for the first time in a while. I quickly set to work and five sticks, some rocks, and two strands of spider silk later, I had myself a little fire pit to cook the duck over. I took a few of the leftover sticks and placed them in the pit. I then took one of the twigs, lit it with one of the torches in my abode, and then quickly threw it on top of the rest of the sticks. I subsequently plucked the feathers off the duck and roasted it, turning in every few minutes, and it looked ready by lunchtime.

After a satisfying meal for both the canine and I, we set off for the cave, taking some more torches, one lit and the rest unlit, with us on our way. The darkness of the cave melted away when the light of the torch penetrated the cave's entrance. The dog and I journeyed further, and heard a horrible screeching noise. Being brave, we went even deeper into the cave until we found a room of moss covered stone. In that room was a lake of lava and stairs to a block that looked as if it was made of pure evil. Coming out of the cube were grayish brown, centipede-like insects. One looked at me, screeched as if it was notifying the others, and scurried away. The bugs seemed almost as scared of me as I was of them. Seeing that, I convinced myself that I would never see anything stranger than that cube in that room and escaped from the cave, a little shaken. Perhaps the only thing that stood between me and insanity was the wolf. It was getting later, so I went to milk more of the red cows for soup, slurping some up on the way back. By the time I was back home, it was raining outside. To top it off, it was the fifth night I had spent on this odd isle.

Another night, another spider. Only this time it wasn't just one. Five spiders lunged from the darkness, knocking me off my feet. I managed to go inside to grab my sword. I then went back outside to fight alongside the dog. By the time the second spider was dead, lightning struck nearby, causing a fire. I finally killed all five spiders, but in the corner of my eye I spotted a green monster. Not just any green kamikaze bomber. A strong field of electricity appeared to be emanating from this creature. The wolf and I were worn out, however, and by the time the charged kamikaze creature had exploded it was already too late…


End file.
